1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an integrated circuit transformer including two or more inductors in which at least one inductor of the transformer is isolated from the integrated circuit substrate and driven by a second inductor of the transformer.
It is possible to design and build an integrated electronic circuit (IC) that includes reactive elements that are fully integrated, structurally and functionally, with other components of the IC. In this regard, the design and manufacture of IC capacitors are well established. However, the size and performance of fully integrated inductors are quite limited, and monolithic inductors typically exhibit significant values of resistance and loss. Consequently, integrated reactive circuits such as LC resonators exhibit low values of quality (Q), typically in the range of 1&lt;Q&lt;10. The low quality of integrated LC resonators is due to resistive losses in the inductor metal and to the silicon substrate that underlies the inductor. Reduction of resistive losses to the substrate should enable an increase in the Q of an integrated LC resonator.